_Rubens_ (Flemish: 1577-1640). _See_ 38.
On the left are the usual incidents of a "Riposo," or Repose in
Egypt. St. Joseph is asleep, and the mule browses on the bank of the
stream, while John the Baptist and attendant angels play with the
Lamb. The Holy Child is on its mother's knee, and to them St. George
is presenting his proselyte, the heathen princess whom he had saved
from the dragon (see under 16). The dragon, now bridled with her
girdle, follows her meekly, and St. George, as he introduces her to the
mysteries of Christianity, plants the banner of the Faith. With the
holy mother is St. Mary Magdalen--a penitent sinner herself, like the
heathen princess, whom she now ushers into the Holy Presence.
Such appears to be the subject. As for the manner in which it is
treated, it is interesting to know that the figures are portraits of
the painter himself and his family. Rubens "is religious, too, after
his manner; hears mass every morning, and perpetually uses the phrase
'by the grace of God,' or some other such, in writing of any business
he takes in hand; but the tone of his religion may be determined
by one fact. We saw how Veronese painted himself and his family as
worshipping the Madonna. Rubens has also painted himself in an equally
elaborate piece.[88] But they are not _worshipping_ the Madonna. They
are _performing_ the Madonna, and her saintly entourage" (_Modern
Painters_, vol. v. pt. ix. ch. vi. § 9).